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The Mormon Trails 
in Iowa 



JACOB VAN DER ZEE 




REPRINTED FROM THE JANUARY 1914 NUMBER OF THE 
IOWA JOURNAL OF HISTORY AND POLITICS PUBLISHED AT 
IOWA CITY BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 






THE UOBUON ISAILS IN IOWA 



LC I'f-JIO^. 



THE MOEMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

Rome, it is said, conquered barbarian nations by means of 
roads no less titan by means of well-drilled armies. The 
nineteenth century conquest of the American West reminds 
one of this Old World story. A vast wilderness, once the 
haunt of Indians, the scene of their hunts and intertribal 
wars, has passed into the hands of hordes of persons im- 
pelled by the migratory instinct to forsake their homes in 
the Atlantic States, in Canada, and in European countries. 

Ambitious, enterprising, and irrepressible, these emi- 
grants everywhere cut their way through trackless forests, 
spanned bridgeless streams, and crossed roadless stretches 
of prairie. As if by magic they transformed unpeopled 
regions into prosperous farms and peaceful towns. 

The reclamation of the country which constitutes the 
State of Iowa forms an interesting chapter in this romantic 
story of the conquest of the West. When the first wave of 
settlers from the East and SoiTth entered the Iowa country 
in the year 1833, rivers, ridges, and Indian trails offered the 
best and only means of access to the interior. Then, almost 
at once, the people's representatives in the legislature of 
Wisconsin Territory pushed the work of laying out suitable 
routes of travel across the lands so recently acquired from 
the Sac and Fox Indians. 

Not until the "Iowa District" obtained from Congress a 
separate Territorial government, however, did the pioneers 
of this trans-Mississippi region receive proper legislative 
attention and fostering care. An extensive network of 
wagon roads then came into existence. When it is remem- 
bered that the inhabited portion of Iowa in 1846 consisted 



4 THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

only of the area east of the present city of Des Moines, and 
that the Territorial legislature authorized the establish- 
ment of nearly two hundred roadways by blazing trees in 
the timber, setting stakes in the prairie, and erecting mile- 
posts and guideboards, one can get a fairly adequate idea 
of the emphasis placed by pioneers upon the importance 
and need of avenues of communication between different 
parts of the new Iowa country. '^ 

But most important and most romantic of all the high- 
ways of Territorial Iowa were the Oregon trail and the 
Mormon trail — the first thoroughfares connecting the Mis- 
sissippi and the Missouri banks of Iowa : the result, not of 
legislative intercession but of "land fever" and of perse- 
cution. Of the former trail nothing remains but the fact of 
its existence, but of the latter much has been written : such 
a mass of historical material, both fragmentary and mis- 
leading, and of local tradition has accumulated, fortified by 
modern county maps, that it is necessary to investigate and 
sift apparently conflicting details in order to fix, if possible, 
the course of the main and original routes of the Mormon 
hegira. 

It was just a few months before Iowa became a member 
of the Union of States that the exodus of Mormons from 
western Illinois commenced. Expelled from their homes in 
Ohio and later from Missouri, these refugees had taken up 
their abode in Illinois and had built a prosperous com- 
munity around their temple city of Nauvoo. Across the 
Mississippi Eiver, in Iowa, they had bought part of the 
town of Keokuk, the whole of a town called Nashville six 
miles north, part of a settlement named Montrose four 
miles farther north, besides several thousands of acres of 
land in the notorious "Half-breed Tract", all in Lee Coun- 

1 See the Laws of the Territory of Iowa from 1838 to 1846, and the writer's 
article on The Soads and Highways of Territorial Iowa in The Iowa Jodbnal 
op History and Politics, Vol. Ill, pp. 175-225. 



THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 5 

ty. One hundred families of Mormons were said to be 
living in Iowa in 1840.^ 

How the Mormons created in the minds of their Illinois 
neighbors strong feelings of dislike and distrust is a story 
which requires no repetition here. Scarcely had they com- 
pleted the building of their Holy Temple at Nauvoo when 
the storm of hate burst over their heads, involving the death 
of their prophet, Joseph Smith. 

The upshot of the whole strife was that late in the year 
1845 the Mormons under the leadership of Brigham Young 
promised their neighbors to depart "so soon as grass would 
grow and water run". They asked the citizens of Illinois 
to help them sell or rent their properties, thus enabling 
them to secure means to assist their widows, orphans, and 
poor to move on with the rest. They ventured to hope that 
"all men will let us alone with their vexatious law-suits". 
They advertised a willingness, and sent out agents, to ex- 
change property for cash, drygoods, oxen, cattle, horses, 
sheep, and wagons ; and they begged not to be subjected to 
further house-burnings or other depredations while they 
remained.^ 

The winter months were spent in "the most prodigious 
preparations for removal." Wagon and tent makers, 
blacksmiths, and carpenters — all were busy : "Nauvoo was 
constituted into one great wagon shop ' ', and before spring 
hundreds of wagons were in readiness. Real estate was sold 
at extremely low prices,* as was the case with all property. 

Setting out for a land of promise in the Eocky Mountains 

2 Bancroft's History of Utah, p. 140. In a letter written by Governor Eobert 
Lucas of Iowa these people were described as ' ' generally considered industrious, 
inoffensive, and worthy citizens. ' ' 

The article in Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. II, pp. 586-602, is based 
almost entirely on Bancroft 's researches into Mormon sources. 

3 History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Vol. Ill, p. 159. 

4 Linn's The Story of the Mormons, pp. 339, 344; and History of the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Bay Saints, Vol. Ill, p. 161. 



6 THE JIORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

— at first they knew not where ^ — the refugees left Nauvoo, 
even sooner than they had contemplated.® Early in the 
month of February, 1846, the twelve apostles with about two 
thousand followers were ferried across the broad Missis- 
sippi : wagons and teams in flat-boats and persons in smaller 
craft. After the 16th of February, owing to a sudden 
change of temperature, the emigrants could cross the river 
on ice.'^ Landing in Iowa, they pushed on about nine miles 
and pitched camp in the snow, on Sugar Creek in Lee 
County. Here the company remained two or three weeks, 
daily receiving accessions, while snow fell heavily, the ther- 
mometer dropped to 20 degrees below zero, and supplies 
grew scarcer.® 

At the camp on Sugar Creek (every halting-place of the 
president and twelve apostles was called "Camp of Isra- 

5 Bancroft's History of Utah, pp. 214-217; Ford's History of Illinois, p. 412; 
and Linn's The Story of the Mormons, p. 359. 

It was calculated that every family of five persons should prepare an outfit of 
one wagon, three yokes of oxen, two cows, two beef cattle, three sheep, one thou- 
sand pounds of fiour, twenty pounds of sugar, a rifle and ammunition, a tent 
and tent-poles, from ten to' twenty pounds of seed, from twenty-five to one 
hundred pounds of farming tools, and a few other items, at a cost of about 
$250, including bedding and cooking utensils. 

In the historical magazine Americana there has appeared a serial history of 
the Mormon Church by Brigham H. Roberts, Assistant Historian of the Church 
in Utah.— See Volume VII. 

8 It is believed that the removal was hastened by the indictment of nine 
apostles for counterfeiting. — Ford's History of Illinois, p. 413. But see Amer- 
icana, Vol. VII, p. 74. 

T Americana, Vol. VII, p. 72; Hyde's Mormonism, p. 142; Lee's Confessions 
in Lewis's The Mormon Menace, p. 225; and Bancroft's History of Utah, p. 218. 

8 For details of the march across Iowa the writer is indebted in the main to 
Bancroft 's History of Utah, pp. 218-223 ; Eoberts 's account in Americana, Vol. 
VII, pp. 172-189; and Linn's The Story of the Mormons, pp. 362-370. These 
historians, together with Charles Negus in the Annals of Iowa, are the chief 
authorities consulted with regard to the Mormon trails. Bancroft and Eoberts 
furnish the reader rough sketches of the route of travel, but make no attempt at 
exactness. 

One should like to know just where the Sugar Creek camp was pitched — 
whether it was west of Montrose, New Boston, or Charleston. 



THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 7 

el") Brigham Young "proved himself a general as well as 
a commander. He directed everything. Thousands were 
leaving; many destitute, and all poor". On the 17th of 
February he addressed his followe/s from a wagon. On 
March 1st, the refugees took up the line of march in five 
hundred wagons: "without confusion, without hurrying or 
even discord, their long trains rolled by him, while he com- 
forted, inspirited, blessed, and counselled the weeping 
emigrants."" 

Only five miles of country were traversed the first day. 
On the second they reached the eastern bank of the Des 
Moines River four miles below the village of Farmington,i<* 
whose citizens, it is said, were delighted with the Mormon 
brass band. The course then lay along the river and a 
crossing was effected at "Bonaparte's Mills" on the 5th of 
March. For the reception and assistance of later followers 
this vanguard of two or three thousand Mormons stationed 
a permanent camp at Richardson's Point, fifty-five miles 
west of Nauvoo, near a branch of Chequest Creek." Here 
the weary travelers rested, working for Iowa settlers in 
return for provisions and awaiting pleasanter weather, 
while several men were appointed hunters "as there was 
much game in the country — turkey, deer, and some elk.''^- 

9 Hyde's Mormoiiism, p. 142. 

10 Probably on the site of the present town of Croton. See Journal of History 
(Lamoni, Iowa), Vol. II, p. 106. 

11 The Imva Capitol Reporter, April 1, 1846, quoting from The Bloomington 
Herald, told of an encampment on the Fox Eiver in Davis County, "about four- 
teen miles above Keosauqua". This is probably a reference to Richardson's 

Point. 

As to the route, Negus varies from all other authorities, declaring that the 
Mormons followed the Des Moines Biver until the western part of Van Buren 
County was reached. He must have been writing of later companies of Mor- 
mons. See Annals of Iowa, Vol. IX, p. 578. 

12 Journal of History, Vol. II, p. 106. See also Lee's Confessions in Lewis's 
2716 Mormon Menace, p. 226. 

Roberts's history in Americana, Vol. VII, pp. 178-182, contains a general 
account and sketch of the route through Iowa. 



8 THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

On tlie 19th of March the little army resumed its journey, 
and as the frozen ground of Territorial and county roads 
thawed out and spring rains began to fall, progress became 
slower and more difficult. Traversing the central townships 
of Davis County and crossing the Fox Eiver a little above 
Bloomfield, they struck an old Mormon trail of 1838 that led 
from Caldwell County, Missouri, to Muscatine, Iowa. This 
trail they followed as far as the Chariton River in Ap- 
panoose County, where they established their second perma- 
nent camp in a large body of timber.^^ Detained by a 
swollen river from March 22 until April 1, the pioneer band 
then went in a southwest direction, camping upon Shoal or 
Locust Creek in the southeastern corner of Wayne County 
on the 6th of April. Here it was decided to locate another 
permanent camp.^* 

Thus far the exiles had been laboring through the sparse- 
ly settled counties of the Territory over more or less well- 
defined roadways, however bad. Wayne County was the 

13 The writer is indebted for this information to Mr. Heman C. Smith, his- 
torian of the church at Lamoni, Iowa. He adds: "I do not know just where to 
locate the large body of timber, but I think it was a little above Centerville, as 
the old trail they were following would bring them somewhere near that point. ' ' 

Negus states that the Mormons passed through the northern parts of Davis 
and Appanoose counties, and then divided and followed the highlands on both 
sides of the Chariton Eiver. He must have been writing of later bands of 
Mormons. 

On page 273 of the 1904 Atlas of loica, compiled by the Iowa Publishing 
Company of Davenport, a writer asserts that the Mormons on their way from 
Missouri to Hlinois "left so well beaten a road that it was known by first set- 
tlers, and for years, as the Mormon trail. ' ' That there was a well-defined trail 
in this neighborhood in 1843 is shown by the fact that the legislature appointed 
three commissioners to lay out a Territorial road from lowaville to the Missouri 
boundary "where the Mormon trace crosses the line." — Laws of loiva, 1843- 
1844, p. 92. 

1* Mr. Heman C. Smith declares that the first Mormons passed through this 
region and that their marching in a southwesterly direction is accounted for by 
the existence of the earlier trail. The accounts of Roberts and Bancroft accord, 
but Negus does not. The former had access to Elder Orson Pratt 's observations 
and diary. 



1 




THE MOEMON TRAILS ACROSS IOWA 



Pioucor or "Camp of Israel' ' Mormon Trail 



Later Mormon Trails 



THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 9 

"jumping off place": henceforth the Mormons were going 
into an unknown, unpeopled, trackless wilderness, the do- 
main of wild animals and Pottawattamie Indians. Bidding 
farewell to Iowa's western frontier line of settlements, they 
journeyed northwestward and entered Decatur County, then 
but recently surveyed and established. In this newly- 
opened region stretching to the Missouri Eiver it became 
necessary to appoint a small party of "pioneers" to go in 
advance of the main body, to explore the route, blaze the 
trail, seek suitable camping sites, and make fords and 
bridges,^® for progress became exasperatingly slow. On the 
24th of April one of the elders jotted down the following 
entry in his diary : 

Yesterday we traveled about eight miles, to-day, six miles. "We 
came to a place which we named Garden Grove. At this point we 
determined to form a small settlement, and open farms for the 
benefit of the poor, and such as were unable, at present, to pursue 
their journey further and also for the benefit of the poor who were 
yet behind. 

Thus, after a toilsome journey through prolonged rains 
and deep mud, the Mormons established Garden Grove. 
On the 27th of April, "at the sound of the horn", the emi- 
grants gathered to organize for labor. One hundred men 
were chosen to fell trees, split them into rails, and set up 
zig-zag fences ; forty-eight were set to cutting logs for log- 
houses ; several were detailed to build a bridge ; others dug 
wells ; some made wood for plows ; a few watched the flocks 
of sheep and herds of cattle; while a small party was de- 
spatched on an expedition into Missouri to exchange prop- 
erty for cows, provisions, and other necessities. The 
remaining members of the party were directed to plant and 
sow the crops that later comers should reap.^" 

15 Annals of Iowa, Vol. IX, p. 578; and Americana, Vol. VII, p. 184. 

16 Journal, of History, Vol. II, pp. 110, 188 ; Lee 's Confessions in Lewis 's The 
Mormon Menace, pp. 229, 230; and Americana, Vol. VII, p. 187. 



10 THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

On the llth of May the pioneers once more set their long 
wagon trains moving and proceeded northwestward. Game 
became very scarce, "thinned out by a tribe of Indians, 
called Pottawattamies, whose trails and old camping- 
gronnds were to be seen in every direction." Near the 
middle fork of Grand River, in what is to-day Union Coun- 
ty, they concluded, on May 18th, to establish another settle- 
ment. They all fell to building, ploughing, planting, and 
fencing, and completed a vast amount of work in a few 
days ' time. On account of the hilly nature of the spot they 
named the place Mt. Pisgah.^"^ 

Towards the end of May "most of the Twelve, with large 
companies, proceeded in a westerly direction. ' ' In order to 
get a level road and to avoid the crossing of numerous small 
streams, they were compelled to bear northward to about 
the center of Adair County, "passing by what was known, 
in early days, as Sargent's Grove, in Adair County, and 
Campbell's Grove, in Cass County." Their course lay 
through the southern part of what is to-day Cass County, 
past an Indian village on the East Nishnabotna River, and 
thence through the southern part of the present county of 
Pottawattamie, reaching Indian Creek on the 14th of June. 
Here, within the present limits of Council Bluffs the travel- 
worn exiles rested for a while, but soon ferried themselves 
and their animals and wagons across the Missouri : Winter 
Quarters, on the site of Florence, Nebraska, became their 
main encampment.^* 

17 Journal of History, Vol. II, pp. 189, 190. 

The Pottawattamie Indians were not removed from western Iowa until after 
June, 1846. Although fearing their hostility, the Mormons encountered nothing 
but good will. 

IS Annals of Iowa, Vol. IX, p. 579. The trail as laid down by Negus from Mt. 
Pisgah westward accords with the trail as described in detail by Edgar E. Har- 
lan, Curator of the Historical Department, who traced the old route over town- 
ship roads and farmers ' fields with the aid of the original surveys of the western 
counties. The Mormon trail ' ' came to be noted by the first surveyors in the 



THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA H 

Such, tlien, in a general way, was the route of the first or 
pioneer band of Mormons — it was the trail of the path- 
breakers. As the slow-moving horse and mule teams and 
heavy-gaited oxen had drawn their exiled owners across the 
Territory of Iowa, log-cabin villages sprang up for the 
accommodation of later Mormon emigrants. To quote from 
the church historian: "Thus the 'Camp of Israel' had be- 
come a veritable marching, industrial column; founding 
settlements as it marched; planting for others to harvest, 
and leaving behind them within easy reach bases of sup- 
plies that insured their own safety in case of emergency. "^^ 
The life and experiences of the emigrants for five months 
on that three-hundred-mile stretch of sparsely settled or 
wholly uninhabited country would supply materials for a 
separate volume: the description of a journey begun in 
mid-winter, over snow-covered roads and frozen ground, 
"with arctic weather and all the inconveniences of ice, 
rain, and mud until May, ' ' must be left to the imagination 
of the reader.^'^ 

During all these months of the year 1846 the roads of 
eastern Iowa were alive with Mormon emigrants. It was 
soon discovered that the pioneer or "Camp of Israel" route 
was unnecessarily circuitous, and so another trail invited 

same way that they noted streams or other visible land marks." See an inter- 
esting report in the Twelfth Annual Conference of the Iowa Daughters of the 
American devolution, pp. 29-36. The members of this organization have taken 
up the commendable work of marking the trails which became important factors 
as avenues of emigration to the West. 

19 Americana, Vol. VII, p. 186. 

20 See Linn 's The Story of the Mormons, p. 364. 

Thomas L. Kane, who lectured before the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 
1850, presented a lucid picture of the burials along the road. He tells how 
coffins were made of bark stripped from trees, and adds: "The name of the 
beloved person, his age, the date of his death, and these marks were all regis- 
tered with care. . . . Such graves mark all the line of the first year of the 
Mormon travel — dispiriting milestones to failing stragglers in the rear.^' — 
Journal of History, Vol. II, pp. 108, 109. 



12 THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

more travel than tlie first. Later Nauvoo emigrants left the 
old trail at the crossing of the Fox River in Davis County 
and bore across the northeastern corner of Appanoose 
County, following the highlands along the Chariton Eiver 
through Monroe and into Lucas County. Here, at a point 
about one and a half miles south of Chariton, they fixed a 
camp, and then continued westward to a place about six 
miles south of the present town of Osceola, Clarke County, 
where they struck and followed the original trail to Winter 
Quarters.^ ^ 

Even this new trail north of the Chariton Eiver was not 
exclusively used, for in that event the Mormon settlement 
at Garden Grove would have served no purpose whatever. 
Accordingly a third route became established in the north- 
em townships of Wayne County : the main road there to-day 
is known as "Mormon Trail ".^^ Modern roads similarly 
designated in other counties are best regarded as auxiliary 
routes which perhaps received the name because a small 

21 Charles Negus, who probably traveled upon this later trail, roughly indi- 
cated what Mr. Harlan has presented in detail. Compare their accounts in 
Annals of Iowa, Vol. IX, p. 578; and the proceedings of the Twelfth Annual 
Conference of the Iowa Daughters of the American devolution, pp. 33, 34. 
Negus, however, gives one the impression that the pioneer Mormon band of two 
or three thousand persons divided near the western border of Appanoose County, 
followed the highlands on each side of the Chariton Eiver, and re-united in 
Clarke County, when the fact is they proceeded together as has been indicated: 
later companies of Mormons selected the northern route. 

In the proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Conference of the Iowa Daughters 
of the American Bevolution, pp. 34, 35, Mr. Harlan lays down a route which 
traverses the eastern settled counties of Iowa and which ,joins the Mormon Trail 
referred to in the land surveys of Monroe County and beyond. He does not, 
however, ascribe to this road the name of Mormon Trail, but believes it was most 
frequented by emigrants to the Far West. Mr. Harlan's location of the trail 
north of the Chariton Eiver is supported by the 1904 maps of Lucas and Clarke 
counties: in one the modern highway is known as "Mormon Trace Eoad" and 
in the other as "Mormon Trail". 

2:2 See map of Wayne County in the Atlas of loiva (1904), compiled by the 
Iowa Publishing Company. 

Mr. Heman C. Smith corroborates this information concerning the northern 
route. 



THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 13 

body of Mormon proselytes happened to pass that way.^* 
Indeed, many such went through Des Moines. 

In July of the year 1846 fifteen thousand Mormons were 
said to be encamped or toiling along the Iowa trails west- 
ward, with 3,000 wagons, 30,000 head of cattle, horses, and 
mules, and a vast number of sheep.^* Indeed, at one time 
no less than two thousand covered wagons could be counted. 
On the 17th of September the last Mormons evacuated 
Nauvoo, terror-stricken by the military preparations and 
threats of their bellicose neighbors. They comprised a 
miserable remnant of about seven hundred people, physic- 
ally unfit and poorly equipped, and they lay huddled at a 
camp north of Montrose until wagons arrived for them 
from Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah in October.^^ 

23 Such as the "Mormon Eidge" in Marshall County. Local traditions have 
been responsible for much of the confusion incident to a study of the Mormon 
exodus through Iowa. 

24 Bancroft's Eistory of Utah, p. 221; Ford's History of Illinois, p. 412, 
where the number of persons who had crossed the Mississippi in May is placed 
at 16,000; and Linn's The Story of the Mornio7is, p. 365. On p. 345, there is a 
record ' ' that the ferries at Nauvoo and at Fort Madison were each taking across 
an average of 35 teams in twenty-four hours. For the week ending May 22 he 
reported the departure of 539 teams and 1617 persons; and for the week ending 
May 29, the departure of 269 teams and 800 persons, and he said he counted the 
day before 617 wagons in Nauvoo ready to start. ' ' 

The Nauvoo Eagle, July 10, 1846, printed an interview with a person who had 
left the Mormons on June 26th. The advance company including the Twelve, 
with a train of 1000 wagons, was then encamped on the east bank of the Mis- 
souri, the men busily building boats. The second company, 8000 strong, were at 
Mt. Pisgah, recruiting their cattle for a new start. The third company had 
halted at Garden Grove. Between this place and the Mississippi the Eagle's 
informant counted more than 1000 wagons. He estimated the total number of 
teams engaged in this movement at about 3700, and the number of persons on 
the road at 12,000. It seems that from 2000 to 3000 Mormons had left Nauvoo 
for other regions, some joining the Strangites at Voree, Wisconsin. — Linn's 
The Story of the Mormons, p. 369. See also The Bloomington Berald, May 8, 
1846; and Niles's National Register, May 30, 1846, Vol. LXX, p. 208. 

25 Linn's The Story of the Mormons, p. 350; Lee's Confessions in Lewis's 
The Mormon Menace, p. 230; and Eistory of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-Day Saints, Vol. Ill, pp. 172, 173, 177, containing an extract from a 
lecture delivered by Colonel Kane before the Pennsylvania Historical Society. 



14 THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

It was while the Mormons were scattered along the river- 
to-river trails that James Allen, a United States army of- 
ficer, arrived at Mt. Pisgah from Fort Leavenworth to enlist 
volunteers for the Mexican War. Accompanied by Brigham 
Young, he proceeded to the camp on the Missouri River, 
opened a recruiting office and secured five companies of one 
hundred men each. An ex-elder of the Mormon Church 
asserted afterwards : "Money was needed to enable them to 
move. Their design they desired to cloak under a sham 
patriotism. The United States offered $20,000 bounty 
money, and Brigham recruited a regiment, persuaded, com- 
manded them to leave their families, many of them perfectly 
destitute, and join General Scott's Army, then in Mexico, 
and they obeyed. "^^ 

For several years the trail across the State of Iowa guid- 
ed hundreds of Mormons to the new asylum of their church 
amid the Eocky Mountains. Mormons in Lee County, Iowa, 
found no more favor with their neighbors than had their 
brethren in Illinois. Many were the crimes charged to them, 
and at a mass-meeting the citizens resolved that the Mor- 
mons must depart from their community. In 1847, it is 
said, "the last of these objectionable people left the 
county."^''' 

For five years the Mormons were in almost exclusive 
occupation and control of the present counties of Mills and 
Pottawattamie. After the camp at Winter Quarters broke 
up in the spring of 1847, those who did not accompany 
Brigham Young westward recrossed the Missouri to live at 

Kane was an eyewitness of much of the Mormon life in Iowa, but authorities 
are inclined to think he sacrificed accuracy to word pictures. 

See also Bancroft's History of Utah, pp. 231, 234. 

21 Hyde's Mormonism, p. 143; Linn's The Story of the Mormons, p. 370; 
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Bay Saints, Vol. Ill, p. 191; 
and Master and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, p. 826. 

2-! History of Lee County, Iowa, pp. 470, 477, 479, 481. See also Niles's 
National Eegister, October 17 and 24, 1846, Vol. LXXI, pp. 99, 124. 



THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 15 

' ' Miller 's Hollow ' ' in Iowa. This place, later called Kaiies- 
ville and, after 1853, Council Bluffs, became an important 
rendezvous for western emigrants, rivalling tlie town of 
Independence, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail. Emigrants 
to Oregon and California who preferred not to go so far 
south to reach the old Oregon Trail had only one alterna- 
tive: the Iowa roads which converged upon the Mormon 
Trail in the western counties. Hence they arrived at the 
chief Mormon town, halted for equipment and supplies, and 
then hastened on to find homesteads or gold. 

Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah, little farming and business 
communities in the midst of an almost uninhabited country, 
remained in the hands of their Mormon founders until the 
spring of 1852.^8 They were resting-places for emigrating 
hosts of Mormon converts from eastern States and Euro- 
pean countries,29 especially England ; for it is a noteworthy 
fact that from the first the Mormons have been zealous mis- 
sionaries in foreign lands, spreading no little dismay and 
alarm among the educated classes. John Hyde, in company 
with nearly four hundred fellow proselytes, sailed from 
Liverpool to New Orleans in 1853 and ascended the Missis- 
sippi to Keokuk, lowa.^'' There, on a hill overlooking the 

28 Though Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah passed into the hands of Gentiles, 
the surrounding country is to-day largely in possession of Mormons who dis- 
sented from the rule of Brigham Young and his polygamous adherents. In 
1853 they called themselves the Eeorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
Day Saints, the original church of Joseph Smith, whose son Joseph has been 
their president since 1860. At the city of Lamoni in Decatur County they 
maintain a college, church offices, and a large publishing house. — Journal of 
History, Vol. II, p. 190. 

23 Annals of loiva (Third Series), Vol. II, pp. 596-600; Annals of Iowa, Vol. 
IX, p. 580 ; and Journal of History, Vol. II, pp. 112, 190. 

In 1856 a company of several hundreds of men, women, and children — 
Mormon proselytes from England — arrived at Iowa City and were fitted out 
with hand-carts, which they dragged westward, with terrible suffering and loss 
of life. — Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. II, p. 599; and Paxson's The 
Last American .Frontier, pp. 100, 101. 

30 Hyde 's Mormonism, p. 19. 



16 THE MORMON TRAILS IN IOWA 

city and the majestic river, he found a "camp thronging 
with life, there being nearly two thousand five hundred Mor- 
mons preparing to start for the plains. ' ' Indeed, the stream 
of emigration westward set in with a rush after the Mexican 
War had ended. 

Thus thousands of Mormon refugees, fleeing from per- 
secution in Illinois, passed over Iowa's Territorial roads 
and highways into an Indian country beyond, and opened 
up for themselves a thoroughfare which guided hundreds 
and thousands of later homeseekers to the fertile valleys 
and plains of Nebraska, Utah, California, and Oregon — 
indeed to the whole American West. Not only did the Mor- 
mons mark the first great Iowa route from the Mississippi 
to the Missouri, but they founded settlements along the 
way, the first places of permanent habitation in the western 
half of Iowa. 

Jacob Van deb Zee 

The State Historical Society or Iowa 
Iowa City Iowa 



